The Rose
by eruestansurana
Summary: Some backstory to the iniation of Alistair and Rowena's romance. Alistair/ f Cousland w/appearances by mSurana and others


Alistair fidgeted nervously with his armor.

"Eruestan," he said timidly, "how do you, uh, tell a l-lady, that, uh, you, uh, like…her…fighting…?"

The elf stared up at him from the poultice he was applying. "I think you just say, 'Hey, I really admire your fighting.'"

"No, no! That's not –" He sighed. "Look, how did you…get together with Leliana?"

Leliana, whose wounds Eruestan was treating, giggled. "Aww, does little Alistair like someone?"

Blushing furiously, Alistair jerked his head around to make sure no one was listening. "Shhh!" he hissed. "Just tell me how it happened!"

Smiling sheepishly at the pretty red-head he was treating, Eruestan said, "Well, to be honest, she kinda approached me."

"Really?" Alistair sounded a little disappointed. "Alright, sooo, um, Leliana, what about Eruestan, er, attracted you to him?"

"You mean other than my devilish good looks and dashing personality?"

She giggled again. "Oh, shush. Although yes, that is true. I mean, he is just…so brave! And good. And determined. And also, he's an elf, which I find incredibly attractive."

"Thank you," Eruestan said brightly.

"Well, you're welcome," she said cheerfully.

"Someone shut them up before I vomit," a lazy voice trailed from across the campfire.

"Don't worry, Morrigan, we'll keep it down," Eruestan smiled.

"But anyway, Alistair, tell me, who is the lucky lady?" Leliana said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, um…"

"Is it Wynne?"

"Very funny, Leliana," the elderly mage's voice trailed from the adjacent tent.

"Oh, wait! I know!" Eruestan's eyes gleamed maliciously. "It's Morrigan, isn't it?"

"Maker, no!"

"I'd sooner sleep with a darkspawn," Morrigan said disgustedly.

"So who is it?" Leliana persisted. "I certainly hope it isn't _me_."

"Well, you see, it's…" Alistair's voice trailed off as he stared at someone in the distance. Everyone looked over to see a beautiful young woman practicing her sword play on a scarecrow in a nearby field.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Leliana squealed. "You and Rowena? You and Rowena! Oh, I just knew it! Oh, this is too cute!"

"Maker's breath, keep your voice down!" Alistair gasped. Suddenly, he froze as Rowena's voice called over from the fields.

"Is everything all right over there?" she called. "I'd hate to miss a real battle because I was practicing for one!"

"We're fINe," Alistair shouted, his voice cracking. Mortified, he quickly cleared his throat. "Leliana thought she saw a spider, that's all!"

Leliana looked indignant. "I have fought off much worse things than a spider!" she snapped. "Look at my wounds! Did a spider do this? Or this?"

"Oh, forget I said anything!" Alistair turned to leave, but stopped suddenly. "Wait, you knew?"

"About…?"

"Me and Rowena, of course!"

Why, yes," Leliana said, surprised. "I thought everyone knew!"

"Was it that obvious?!" Alistair sounded panicked.

"Oh, don't be silly, Alistair! It's just the perfect story! The young bastard prince who falls in love with the deposed noblewoman. Add the fact that the two of you are skilled warriors destined to end the Blight and you were practically tailored for each other! In fact, this reminds me exactly of a tale I heard in Orlais, about Gereldine and her lover Antoine…"

"If I hear one more tale from Orlais, Leliana, I will personally come over there and rip out your hair!" Morrigan barked. "Do I make myself clear?!"

"Oh, pff." Leliana waved her off. She turned back to Alistair. "Besides, even if it were not for your birthrights, I would know."

"You would? How?"

"I've seen the way you look at each other."

"At…each…other – wait, does that mean you think she likes me too?"

Leliana huffed impatiently. "Oh, I swear, you Fereldens know nothing of love! Of course she does! You're _always_ together. You both have that delightfully charming sense of humor. You're both very honorable, and very loyal. And remember when you were ambushed by that darkspawn, and she got to your side so fast we all thought she flew? That's a big sign. But, oh, when you stayed up all night by her side to make sure her wounds wouldn't fester – I literally almost cried, it was so adorable."

"Soooo…what should I do? Should I give her something?"

"Flowers are nice," Eruestan said.

"Actually, I did find this pretty cool flower back in Lothering that I've wanted to give her." He rummaged through his pockets and pulled it out. "I mean, it's been about two months and it hasn't even withered yet or anything!" In his palm was a beautiful red rose.

Leliana started. "Is that…that's one of my Maker roses!"

Alistair stared blankly at her. "Your what now?!"

"That's one of my Maker roses, I'm sure of it!" She looked furious. "That's one of the roses the Maker sent to me to let me know my visions were real!"

"Oh!" Alistair looked uncomfortable. "Well, uh, I didn't know that. It's, uh...very pretty…"

"Can you believe that?" she asked Eruestan indignantly. "He stole one of my Maker roses!"

"Well, in all fairness, he really didn't know that they were yours, or that the Maker sent them to you," Eruestan said quickly. "And yes, it is very pretty."

"That doesn't excuse anything! Give it back!"

"What?! No!" Alistair clutched the rose to his chest.

"Alistair. Listen to me. That rose was a GIFT. To ME. From the MAKER. Give it back!'

Slowly, Alistair placed the rose in front of his lips and spoke in a disturbing falsetto. "Hey, Leliana! The Maker said you should forgive Alistair and let him give me to Rowena."

Leliana raised an eyebrow at him. "On second thought, maybe you shouldn't get too far ahead of yourself. I might have overestimated your 'charming sense of humor.'"

"Really? You think – you know what? No. Screw it. I'm going for it." Alistair squared his shoulders as if going into battle and gave a weak smile. "Wish me luck?"

CHOCK! Everyone started and whirled around just in time to see Rowena neatly decapitate the scarecrow with a skilled spin-maneuver.

Eruestan gave an uneasy smile back. "Yeah, I think you're gonna need it."

Rowena brushed her red hair out of her face cheerfully. That was quite possibly the best beheading she had ever done.

She wiped the sweat off her face grimly. Arl Howe wouldn't stand a chance.

Someone coughed behind her. She whirled around and saw that it was Alistair. Her heart began to race. _Relax_, she told herself. _Don't let him know how much you like him_.

However, he looked about as comfortable as she did. Determined not to start an awkward conversation, Rowena smiled and crowed, "Did you see me cut the head off that thing?!"

Alistair looked relieved. "Now if only you could do that to the darkspawn…"

"Oh, like you could do better!" she teased. Maker, he looked handsome in the moonlight!

He laughed, but then turned serious all of a sudden. "Rowena?"

"Yes?"

"We've known each other for a while now, haven't we?"

Her heart began to beat faster. Was this going where she thought it was? "Yeah, I'd say that." Damn her shaky voice!

"Well, I don't know about you…but…uh…well…ireallythinkthatireallylikeyouandihopeyoureallylikemesoyeah!"

Rowena stared blankly at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

Alistair sighed. "Look, do you know what this is?"

He handed her a rose.

_A ROSE! Sweet Maker, a rose! He likes me! He really likes me! I mean, a __**rose**__! Stay cool, Rowena. Stay cool. Oh, what did Mother say to do at times like this?_ She frantically tried to remember; however, she found that anytime her mother had told her something about finding a husband, she had gotten bored and ran off to spar in the courtyard. _Damn! Well, come on, say something. Something witty. Yeah! Witty!_

"Ummm…your new weapon?"

_What was that?! _Retarded_, that's what that was. Wait, he's laughing…_

"Yes, fear me, Alistair, Prince of Flowers! Watch me as I stab you with my thorns!" His face fell back into more serious lines. "Actually, I found this back in Lothering."

"Really? That was so long ago, though! Why hasn't it—"

"I know." He looked a little embarrassed. "Leliana said something about the Maker…but whatever. The thing is, when I found this, the bush had been trampled in all the chaos. All the other flowers in the garden were destroyed – but this one survived. It just struck me that something so beautiful could exist in the midst of all that darkness." His hands fumbled with it as he made nervous eye contact. "Which made me want to give it to you."

Rowena stared at the flower. He wanted to give it to her. He thought she was beautiful. He didn't just like her, he _liked_ her. She was paralyzed with shock and happiness…a paralysis that Alistair swiftly misinterpreted.

"And…you…hate it. Maker's breath, I'm an idiot. Please, forget that this happened. I'm just gonna go find a hole to die in." Stricken, he turned to leave.

_He's leaving. He's LEAVING! Say something! Move! Mouth, legs! Work!_

"W-wait," she stammered, running forward. She tripped and crashed into his open arms. Looking up, she saw that he looked pained and mortified. _Sweet Andraste, he's perfect_, she thought wildly.

"I-I do like it," she whispered. "It's beautiful."

Hope flickered in his eyes.

"You really do?" he said slowly.

"Absolutely," she said fervently, constantly aware of how close she was to him; it was starting to get difficult for her to breathe.

"I-I just wanted to say that, despite of all that terrible things that are happening right now, despite the fact we've got an Archdemon breathing down our necks, I'm glad I'm to do it here, now, with you."

Without even thinking, Rowena leaned up and kissed him.

For a moment, time stood still. Everything was perfect.

Then they broke apart.

"Ditto," she breathed, dazed.

He stared at her, stupefied. "We are…definitely going to have to do that more often."

She smiled. "I like the way you think."

Gently, he picked up the rose and placed it in her hair. And even though she knew that hell was on its way, for the briefest of moments, she somehow knew that everything would work out in the end.


End file.
